I Introduced Tacos to Panamanians

Seed Saving = Sustainability

At some point I realized that people have been asking me not only for new seeds they want to try planting for the first time, but also for seeds of plants I’d seen them growing previously.  It turns out that people here have not been saving their seeds!

So I gave a training session on seed gathering and care.  This topic may seem obvious, but it is no easy feat out here.  First, when seeds are harvested they must be thoroughly dried, without getting burned.  Some types of seeds are more delicate to sun exposure than others, so while a few can be dried sitting up on a hot, zinc metal roof, others must be kept out of direct sunlight.  After the initial drying, staying dry remains a challenge in this humid, equatorial climate.  Glass or plastic jars that seal tightly are ideal, but when farmers save large quantities of seeds in sacks, the bare minimum they should try for is to store the sack up, off of the ground and away from places where water comes into a house.  Insects eating seeds in storage are yet another challenge mitigated by adding ash and strong-smelling herbs to the seed containers.

  

Group gathering to learn about seed saving

I explained that seeds should be harvested from healthy, high producing plants.  For example, the current practice for growing new coffee trees is to let the cherries fall to the ground, wait for baby trees to sprout, and then transplant these to new areas.  Using that method, farmers have no idea from which tree the sprouts are coming and so have no way of knowing if the parent tree is a strong seed donor candidate.  I also explained that seeds found locally are better than those brought in from the outside.  Seeds here have adapted to the climate, are resistant to diseases, and are generally better suited for this environment.  We have no such guarantee when buying seeds from other sources.  I put up a list of seeds people ask me for regularly and another list of seeds I know people have grown or are growing within this community and watched the light bulbs click on.  If people in El Harino exchange seeds with each other, they will be able to get local seeds at low cost.  And they will be able to do this time and time again.  In theory, no one should have to ask for free seed handouts again!

Example of my presentation papers

I told everyone that I would help get seeds from the outside only if they were truly hard to find locally or in extremely high demand.  I also set some requirements for receiving free resources from me.

1) They have to show me the place they have in mind to plant.

2) At said place, there must either be good soil already, or they must begin to compost in order to improve soil quality.  I told them if they need proof of the magic of compost to come see my garden.  My terrible, clay-based soil is producing wonderfully thanks to compost!  I reminded them that I am always available to come help families get their compost piles started (I have already done this for five households).

My garden growing wonderfully

3)  They need to practice some form of seed starting, whether it be a seed table like mine or little seed bags.

My idea with these requirements is that if families receive seeds to plant or fencing to protect their gardens from chickens, I want a guarantee that they are really going to try to make this work.  No excuses of bad soil and that the seeds just didn’t sprout.  Not on my watch!

Try, try again.

I had to give the above training session twice.  The first time only six people showed up.  What went wrong?  It’s hard to say.  Maybe I didn’t pasear enough, but there had recently been many community wide events where I’d announced the training publicly, so I’m sure everyone knew about it.  Maybe there were too many community wide events around that date, and people were just too busy.  Maybe the topic didn’t seem exciting.  In any case, after the first run-through went well with the disappointingly small group, I had to think about how to proceed.  At the next big community thing, I asked a few people what they thought.  The consensus was that the timing was bad, they’d all been busy, and that I should give the talk again.  They decided Sunday afternoon would be the most convenient time and so we re-set the date.  Talk number two had a much better turnout and reassured me that people are indeed interested in working with me and hearing what I have to say.  Whew.

It also may have helped that I’d promised to provide lunch … tacos!  Yes, a gringa introduced tacos to a Latino community.  Although a brand new concept for them, my low-budget tacos were a success.  The only complaint was that the mild salsa I used was a little too spicy.

Tacos!

A few all-stars stayed after the talk to help with some school garden work.  I gave them the washed salsa glass jars for future seed saving as a reward.

I have now hosted three reading club sessions.  Kids here learn to read in school up to a 6^th grade level, and many do not continue past this, practice at home, nor are they ever read to by their parents.  So I’ve started a weekly meeting on my porch where I spend part of the time reading to the group, and part of the time passing books around for them to practice out loud.  During my first session only one 10-year-old boy came accompanied by his 15-year-old sister (I suspect she may have benefited as well).  But again, I did not let this discourage me much.  Many parents said they’d forgotten and would send their kids to the next one.  Sure enough attendance has greatly improved and I’m having a lot of fun with the group, ranging in age from six to 15.  It seems some project ideas are worth more than one try.

Kids books en Español

#Third World Problems (of a first world girl)

I have a feeling this segment may repeat in future entries.  Enjoy!

- I can’t wash my hair at night because if I go to sleep with it wet, my pillowcase will mold over.

- I hike 45 minutes to ask someone a quick question.

- Those roosters are so loud.

- I finish showering and step out into mud.

- My housemates are toads, cockroaches, ants, and spiders.

- I mow the lawn with a machete.

- I don’t refrigerate things that say “refrigerate after opening”

- Vomiting into a latrine is even less fun than vomiting into a toilet.

- The flat board on which I hand wash my clothes gets them dirty.

- I don’t want to burn my trash, so I carry it out with me to trash cans in the city.

- The floor of my house gets wet when I shower outside.

- My tan lines are so weird.

- When the wind blows, my shower curtain flies open.

- It’s 2am and I really have to pee, but it’s pouring rain.

Misc. Photos

So many kids in line for so many free toys from random politicians

The mom tried so hard to get this kid to smile.  No way!

My favorite baby.

Pretty pineapple

Meeting about reducing the price of our chiva (public transit consisting of glorified pick-up trucks).  This got quite ugly at some point.

Harvesting coffee in a Panamanian fanny pack called a churruca